Networked multi-function devices generally interact with an assemblage of varying rendering devices, client computers, servers, and other components that are connected to and communicate over a network. An example of a typical multi-function device is a rendering device having combined printing, scanning, faxing, and/or photocopying capabilities.
Multi-function devices generally support EIP (Extensible Interface Platform) services which permit custom services to be installed and represented in a GUI (Graphical User Interface) associated with the multi-function device. For example, an invoice button associated with such a GUI may, when selected, simultaneously transmit an invoice to a particular organizational department while archiving the information in an associated document management database for easy retrieval. Such EIP services typically require manual registration and configuration which can be a time-consuming and tedious process when a newly deployed service is required to appear with respect to a large number of multi-function devices.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art EIP configuration network 100 associated with an EIP server 110, a registrar 115, and one or more multi-function devices 112, 114 and 116. A single instance of an EIP service can be installed as a web application on the EIP web server 110. The registrar 115 then registers the EIP service with each of the multi-function devices 112, 114 and 116 on which the service should be available. The registration can be processed through a GUI into which the user inputs the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the service as well as other important details such as, for example, the location of images utilized as icons in the GUI associated with the multi-function devices 112, 114 and 116. The registration may also be processed as a web service call.
Furthermore, the EIP registration may be repeated manually three times with respect to the multi-function devices 112, 114 and 116. Each time the EIP service is utilized, the web application hosted on the EIP server 110 can be invoked. Such registrations, however, are associated with the single web EIP server 110. Thus, if the server slows or is overloaded, or a parallel server is added to the network, the registrations must be updated manually from the registrar 115 to point to a new location or URL. Note that registration involves storing a reference regarding a specific service in a persistent memory of a specific multi-function device.
One of the problems associated with such an approach is that the multi-function device service association remains until the registration is deleted or modified by the registrar software. Also, the EIP registration system 100 cannot dynamically allocate services. Additionally, the management of a large number of services and/or a large number of multi-function devices can quickly become very problematic.
Prior art approaches provide some solutions to such deficiencies; however, through additional analysis and prototyping, significant improvements to the system have been introduced. FIG. 2 illustrates a peer aware network 200 with distributed web hosting. The peer aware network 200 includes a number of multi-function devices such as devices 212 and 213 associated with one or more proxy computers 215. The proxy computers 215 manage the registrations that are stored on the individual multi-function devices 212 and 213. The proxy computers 215 also act as proxies between the multi-function device 212 and 213 and the actual service hence communications must be routed through the proxy computer 215. The multi-function device to EIP service traffic can be proxied via the proxy computer 215 which slows access to the individual EIP services and increases network traffic.
Based on the foregoing, it is believed that a need exists for enabling a fleet of multi-function devices to dynamically discover an EIP service and auto populate service options displayable to a user or a group of users. A need also exists for filtering EIP services based on a corporate policy in order to allow access to enhanced services, as described in greater detailed herein.